Fourth grade brought books to life with its first big Language Arts project of the school year. Students were asked to either film or perform a book report rather than write one.

“The idea behind the project was to have a fresh and exciting spin on a book report to reinforce reading for understanding, but also to encourage empathy and the ability to understand the perspective of a character in a book,” said Grade 4 Teacher Kristen McKnight.

“Some students recorded, edited, and rivaled Oscar winners in their video presentations, while others chose to perform live, with Tony-award winning quality,” she added.

Students had five weeks to prepare the project at home from a book of their choice (age-appropriate chapter book), and the goal was to present from the point of view of the main character. Some of the characters represented include: Alexander Hamilton, Harry Potter, as well as characters from Adam Blade’s Beast Quest series and Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.